What Is Selenium? Getting Started With Selenium Testing

When you run a test script over a Selenium Grid, it is first pushed to the Hub/Server where the desired capabilities class is assessed to figure out the test configurations. The desired capabilities class specifies the browser, browser version and operating system over which the test script should be executed. Among the registered nodes, the Hub finds a suitable Node which matches with the desired capabilities. The Hub then sends commands to the Node for executing the script in the remote machine which meets the right browser + OS configuration. Selenium Grid has by far been the most useful component of the Selenium project. Selenium Grid allows parallel testing against various browsers & OS combinations through a Client-Server model.

But as it evolved, developers started to envision adding features that would take it beyond what the founders originally intended it for. There was a time when only Thoughtworks employees used Selenium internally. But by the end of 2004, Selenium became an open-source tool and was made available for the testing community. For example, you can have a program that constantly generates random click over a webpage by looking for web locators. As a QA engineer, you are responsible for end-to-end testing of your web application from the end-user’s perspective. You would have to think of a series of test cases to ensure the smooth functioning of different touchpoints on the web application.

Major Building Blocks of Selenium

Selenium integrates with PyTest, Junit, TestNG, and other popular testing frameworks. It is also extensible via third-party tools, custom plugins, libraries, and frameworks, and CI/CD pipeline integrations. Its primary role is to automate web browsers, which assists testers and developers in verifying the functionality and user interface of web applications across different browsers and platforms without manual intervention. By automating tasks such as clicking, typing, and navigating through web pages, Selenium replicates real-user interactions, making it an indispensable tool for functional and regression testing. Imagine that a QA could run all their automated software tests on a Selenium framework that exists entirely on the cloud. This cloud hosts a Selenium grid that connects to a vast range of browsers and devices and allows users to execute multiple tests simultaneously using parallel testing.

It allows engineers to design and planning tests in a range of programming languages such as C#, PHP, Python, Groovy, Java, Perl, Scala, and Ruby, as open-source software. With all the versatility it brought in through technologies and realms, Selenium altered the automation environment, throwing most instruments out of gear beforehand. He was tired of spending time and energy on web application testing and came up with a Javascript library that allowed him to automatically run tests against multiple browsers.

Selenium Testing Services with the Latest Digital Technologies

All you need is one line of code to instantiate the remote Selenium WebDriver instead of the local Selenium WebDriver. Our QA and testing professionals use the best automation frameworks and tools to execute strategy specially made for the project. Combining agile methodology along selenium cloud with testing processes, we offer quality software solutions and professional services to our clients. TechArcis automation testing with Selenium aims to give enterprises tailored automation solutions to help them adapt to the varying marketplace with speed and efficiency.

Selenium’s benefits are vast, and its drawbacks are few, but it’s essential to understand the framework’s drawbacks before incorporating it into your project. Selenium has come a long way from its inception to what it is available today. It has come up with a lot of new features like new easier-to-use IDE and W3C compliance to make programming faster, easier, more efficient. Thanks to Paul Hammant(Engineer at Thoughtworks) who came up with an idea and implemented a server which could act as an HTTP proxy. The trick was to make the browser believe that application under test and Selenium Core originate from the same domain. In Monkey testing, we try to break the system by giving a random input to the system.

Why Use Selenium Automation?

Based on the preferences set in the desired capabilities instance, the Hub will point the tests to a node that matches the preferences. The prerequisites for setting Automate are the Capabilities object and Remote WebDriver. The capabilities object would help to configure the desired properties and platform for the tests, and Remote WebDriver is used to hit the BrowserStack API.

By the end of this tutorial on Selenium automation testing, you will be in a better position to run Selenium tests on local Selenium Grid and cloud Selenium Grid. Selenium Grid is a powerful proxy server enabling parallel test execution on multiple machines. Acting as the hub, it routes commands in JSON format to remote web browser instances registered as Grid nodes, facilitating efficient and scalable test automation. You can refer to our support documentation & GitHub repository to get a step-by-step procedure for running your first Selenium automation testing script over an online Selenium Grid.

Chapter 20 Continuous time stochastic models and issues of aggregation over time

If you have Selenium automation testing in place for regression testing, you can run often and it gives feedback quickly. Codoid’s Selenium testing services include – robust script development, test automation framework setup for web, mobile, & desktop applications, maintenance, and test automation training. Selenium has many pros in its favor that make it a solid choice as a web testing automation tool. Selenium is a popular software testing tool that is open-source and supports most browsers and operating systems.

Testing web applications manually on multi-platform and browsers takes time and your team needs quick feedback. Automated testing does not need to be an expensive, and time consuming effort. We at Codoid follow and continually improve on the best practices mentioned, ensuring that we successfully implement test automation each time. Connect with us to understand how we can help to accelerate the growth of your business within a fixed budget and timeframe. For software testers, this translates to more varied testing and tighter deadlines. Automating repetitive tests such as regression tests, unit tests, integration tests and the likes prevent QAs from having to waste precious man-hours executing the same scripts with a few changed variables.

Our Selenium Testing Expertise Helped An Academic Research Paper Publishing House Achieve 100% Test Automation Coverage

Here WebDriverManager.ChromeDriver.setup initializes the latest Chrome browser installed in the system. Now that I have touched upon web automation and installed all the necessary JAVA libraries, we shall get moving with writing our first Selenium script. This will generate a pop-up window that requires you to fill in a few details, such as the Project name, save location, execution JRE, and layout option. You can name it a newproject, CrossBrowserTestingDemo or CBTDemo, or SeleniumDemo, and click on Finish.

It lets you create test cases by recording your interactions with the browser. It took a few years for Selenium to merge with WebDriver, but when they did join forces, it meant taking the best of both worlds, and bringing a massive community of the brightest minds in test automation under one roof. To set the necessary capabilities of browser name, version, platform, etc., you can use the LambdaTest Desired Capabilities Generator. Read More– Start Automation Testing with Selenium across 3000+ browsers & web apps. It helps carry out the driver exe path setup for all browsers like Chrome, Edge, and Firefox in a single line.

Resources for Learning Automation Testing in Selenium

The biggest disadvantage to testers, however, is probably that it requires programming skills to write tests. Selenium thus became the first tool that enabled its users to control a browser using any programming language. With many frameworks available for web automation testing, Selenium has grown from strength to strength and is now the go-to framework for web automation testing. However, in my opinion, Cypress vs Selenium comparison is still relevant in the field of web testing. Selenium WebDriver is a tool for automating testing web applications, which interacts directly with the browser without any intermediary, unlike Selenium RC (Remote Control) that depends on a server.

• Selenium thus became the first tool that enabled its users to control a browser using any programming language.
• Whether running a single test case across multiple browsers or executing diverse test scenarios within the same browser but different versions, LambdaTest has got you covered.
• In this article, I will take you through the prerequisites and everything you need to know to get started with Selenium automation testing.
• Selenium Grid profoundly minimizes the test runtime as it allows you to run multiple test scripts over different remote devices, simulatenously.
• In this section, we will discuss how you can get started with Selenium automation testing.
• Selenium 4 is an advanced version of Selenium and was introduced to improve the efficiency, performance and capabilities of browser automation.